medical errors

A 15 million-dollar case for reforming medical malpractice in Canada

Five years after her life irreversibly changed, Danielle Boyd won her case and received one of the highest medical malpractice payouts in Canadian history. The agreed-upon facts: Dr. Edington, a rural family physician who also practices anesthesia, obstetrics, and emergency medicine, saw then 24 year-old patient Ms. Boyd in the Hanover ER at a little

Should cautions issued to health professionals be publicly reported?

Should Ontario's Regulatory Colleges Publicly Report Cautions?

Last week, the governing council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) voted unanimously in favor of changing its bylaws to allow for public reporting of the results of inspections of Out-of-Hospital Premises, such as private colonoscopy and plastic surgery clinics. This change was made following reporting by the Toronto Star, which

Should we be punishing medical errors?

An interesting story came across my desk recently. Apparently, some states in the U.S. have moved towards a punitive model in trying deal with medical errors and adverse outcomes – this particular story describes how Utah will no longer fund healthcare providers and hospitals for dealing with illnesses that resulted from avoidable errors and infections. On

Teamwork training in medical school should be more rigorous

Kenneth Lam healthydebate blogger

I’ve had a couple of sour experiences with teamwork since entering medical school.  These experiences are bad teamwork of the usual sort: a miscommunication, a slighted ego, and pretty soon we’re starting arguments with no other reason than to prevent the other person from having his way.  And though I know experiences of bad teamwork